Author: harold

I’ve been watching a bunch of old anime. Tons available on YT now that I couldn’t get my hands on for so long. Mostly cyberpunk stuff, mostly late 80s up to mid 90s. After that Golden Age, quality goes down hard.

They’re quite corny. And sexist as hell. But they have a vibe, some good animation. I feel the ambition, trying to be as sleek and movie-like as they could be. I love the use of synthesizers’ “Orchestral Hit”, it’s probably one of the only time ever when they’re appropriate. They just work well with the color palette and the questionable edits. Same with the sound effects. Maybe it’s just early digital audio nostalgia.

But also, business! I’m fascinated by Japan’s way of doing things. How OVAs came up to exist. How animation was tied to toys (so they had to invent machines, robots and spaceships to not only populate the story, but also the stores; yes that’s why there was so many mecha stuff in 70s/80s/early 90s). How they competed to get the contract. How they would struggle to find the best quality possible within a budget. How they wanted to do better than competition. The perfect mix of experimentation, creativity and commerciality of their products. Imagine:

Big company: “hey, we need someone to make us some anime that sells toys too.”

*small companies battle*

Big company: “Ok small company 001, you won the bid.”

Small company: “Cool. Here’s the universe.”

*Big company abides*

Small company: “by the way, it’s going to be too hard to make it fit for TV. Let’s release this on video in a weird way, like 4 episodes, 2 that are 30mn long and 2 that are 50mn long. We know, it’s weird. But that should work better.”

Big company: “Go on. But don’t forget to make cool designs for our toy line!”

Of course, tons of those studios died. An amazing amount of work was poured into those anime by anonymous artists. Most of those studios didn’t make it through the 2000s. If they did, it was by pushing commerciality up a notch, and production quality down by two.

The legacy is huge though. Universes that inspired many artists. The OVA format is the first video format ever made that kind of encouraged binge-watching. The first format that fits perfectly between a TV show episode and a whole movie. Back in 1983.

Oh, Japan. What would I have become without you?

A small, strong dude with the name of his mom tattooed on the back of his shaved skull. Yesterday, he closed his auto shop. Twenty-five years.

His name is Israel. Always tight with his old school hip hop style. LA cap, cool glasses, white sleeveless shirt, baggy jeans and a pair of old red Js or Timbs. He’s in his mid-fifties looking like a small version of Fat Joe.

His business being across the street from my room, I saw him work six to seven days a week changing tires from 7am to 8pm. During heat waves or torrential rain, it didn’t matter. My man was out there with his assistant. I’ve seen cars pulling up with a flat regularly. Always wondering why they would go to his shop when there’s an auto shop every block in this part of Los Angeles. Great customer service, I suppose.

He hooked me up with two Mexican brothers to help me find a car a few years ago. We did find one far away –they gave me a ride– but I couldn’t afford it. I told him good morning if not everyday, every other day. “How’s life treating you man?” he would ask me, pulling me aside on the sidewalk. I would You Know this shit hard, more amused and more thankful for his thoughtful question than willing to answer properly. One time he wasn’t look well. As I passed his shop every weekend to shoot my basketball, that time I stopped and asked him what was going on. He was just sad because of some family bullshit, some conflict with his kids and his ex-wife. He was sad enough to need a hug. I hugged that man on the corner like he was family.

It was just black and brown people doing business around cars and tires. Maybe there was something else. Maybe not. He owned his shop and was very proud of that. He told me multiple times that he didn’t like that gentrification going on but that he was not concerned. Until they come for you. And it’s really a weird, elusive “they”. Some motherfucking ghostly holding for which $1M is actually like a dollar bill, probably patiently waiting to get rid of all the small shops on that block. That’s how things are now.

On Sunday as he was emptying his space, I went over and gave him a bottle of wine. Neighbors and customers stopping by to help or drop a plate of food. He was visibly exhausted. Sad. He told me that he got his money so, all good? Money matters but don’t matter at the same time. He’s planning on moving out of LA and find a place somewhere south. It’s hard to start over. I know that.

Yesterday, when the sun was going down as I was playing bass, I could see him alone in his empty lot, strolling, remembering, wiping his face from all the liquid coming out of his holes. He was looking around and he really was red. He had this road sign on the wall, BIG DADDY BLVD. He slammed the doors of his blue truck in slow motion and painfully drove away.

I’ll miss his stroll. I’ll miss waving and shouting “have a great day!” at him and hear him answer whatever, he has already waved back as I’m speeding up. I’ll miss hearing him laugh in the aisle of our local market. He knows everyone.

As I was reading this last night, I couldn’t stop crying. People of Los Angeles and cities on earth, it’s time to fight. Talk to your fucking billionaire friend and tell him to fucking chill and retreat to his/her far away gated community, far from us the 7.5 billion peasants out there.

From the piano in the background of the cashier scene detuning and glitching, to the silence when Earn looks through the glass walls at the agency while people look at him, to the creepy ambiences in the creepiest episode to the hard-drives noises in the studio to the sound of scissors, sprays, brushes in the barbershop story, Atlanta has wonderful sound design. Very clean. Perfectly chosen.

The same is true with the music selection, always on point. But there’s another thing that I love about the sound, it’s what I call the “little sentences”.

Episode 3. They’re outside the club and about to get in. The bouncer is like “twenty for dudes, bruh”. And Earn, simply looking in his wallet repeats “twenty…” and the bouncer replies “twenty for dudes, bruh”. It’s almost like a sound effect. There’s this line in episode 7 when the girls are selling selfies to Van and the hustler is like “wassuup watcha gonna dew” at low volume, like some kind of little snark. Every episode, there are some little sentences. “mmh fuck with me, mmh” in Episode 1. “Oh yeah that one don’t work good” in Episode 5. The stupid lama laugh in Episode 4. “Man I’m bruising this boy” in Episode 11. So forth. They stick.

It’s part of the writing but it ends up being the sound. Catchphrases are this audio/thoughts hybrid to me. There’s the serious, cinematographic sound of Atlanta. And then there’s the goofy, quirky, sound of Atlanta.

Another layer added that makes the show more special.

A lot happening and not a lot happening amirite.

Sports season is over so no more analysis to get my brain busy on non-consequential shit.

I’m reading a lot about urban design and city plans, how incredibly political and crucial all that stuff is. Architecture analysis. Keeping my brain busy.

Watching E3’s gameplay demos. Analyzing systems, visuals, what’s being hidden and what’s not. Looking at NPCs, analyzing how they move, on which triggers. What sound can bring. Analyzing.

Waiting on job applications with candles, prayers, sacrifices. I have my best men and women on this to help me out and well, half the year has passed already and haven’t heard back from uh, no one. It’s rough. I know it’s not me. I got to keep going. Appetite is infinite. Anger is right there. I go back reading about design stuff.

I have French conversations twice a week with this older white man who’s going on a trip to Normandy later this year. I help those black women with IT stuff. I talk to my young coworker and tell her to keep her head up. Racial tensions are high, they‘re just dormant under the scab. Gentrification is really not welcome nor helping. I think LA gangs might start to think of raising some hell. They’re fed up. All south LA is fed up.

Sometimes I feel like I know too much. You know, the entire map of social relationships. Most people stay in one area and look a little bit over there, but that’s it. I roam all those streets, learn, freak out a bit at what it will take to solve that particular issue. Then I’m tired. Hope for breakfast, anxiety for dinner.

I started handing my memoir to a few selected readers. Curious to see how they will react. Mentioning a little bit my background floors people. Black people even more. They’re like “how the fuck?” and I’m like “I don’t know”. Still going though.

Man, it was pretty much exactly what it should have been. Teamwork wins, all day everyday.

Cleveland never had a team. They had a bunch of guys playing for one guy: LeBron James. And the Warriors controlled him like a RC car. People act like he was missing shots just because of a self-made injury or because of the rest of the Cavs. In 2015, LBJ could flick his wrist on a drive and Steph Curry was gone.

Not in 2018. Steph Curry beefed up. He also knows LeBron well now, and has teammates who know when to help. The Warriors had 13 blocks last night. The Cavs had 5.

Finals are won on defense. LeBron never moves his ass back, using his amazing physical abilities to disrupt the flow. I have watched the 1998 NBA finals at the same time and Michael misses many shots. Some pretty bad shots too. But man, he’s back on defense and suffocating anyone he has to guard, immediately. Like Draymond last night, airballing a wide open 3. The next 5 or so offensive rebounds were his. WERK

To win, you need consistent ball movement, offensive/defensive balance and fugly hustle, that’s how it is. You can’t just change an entire team, drive to the basket and believe that’s going to be enough. And it’s true, the way the media ride his dick is detrimental to his greatness. It’s a disservice and now he’s paying the consequences.

All his teammates fired earlier this year did well if not excellent with other teams. Kyrie, the dude who put the clutch 3 for their title in 2016, wanted out. I mean, that’s pretty straight evidence of LBJ’s shortcomings as a leader and team player. Statistics are meaningless. Ask CP3.

Meanwhile, KD has quietly been the best NBA player, again. Scores with an insolent efficiency, defends with smart vision and pretty much never misses free throws. Also starts passing very well. Kevin Durant doesn’t give a fuck. He’s proven that he’s on another level right now.

So, LeBron at the Sixers? Why not. He needs to take the backseat though, otherwise that won’t work. Next year’s Celtics are scary as hell. I hope my Spurs work out strong this off-season and come back with Kawhi, better than ever. I hope Danny Green 3PT shooting is back because phew, it’s going to be needed in the West. You can’t be 4 of 30 from 3 in the playoffs anymore.

All teams en route to defeat Golden State’s 3peat. The last time a team won 3 championships in a row was 2000-2002 with the Lakers. The Warriors look like they have the range to do it. It’s going to be a great new season. Ball is life.

I was writing about the three over a month ago:

Now, during the playoffs it’s way different. Teams expect those shooters beyond the arc and will make sure they don’t get the ball that often. The shooter has all the pressure and that’s where shooting 3s becomes a curse: you miss one. You miss two. Four. It’s the playoffs. Not scoring leads to stressed AF really fast. Then you doubt. Should you try again? Should you pass, drive? If you hesitate, you lose.

It becomes a curse. You try to focus on making those 3s and suddenly your defense sucks hard.

The Rockets missed 37 threes and the Celtics missed 32 of those in game 7, showing that my theory about the three in the playoff was on point. If they don’t go in, the opposing team gets the rebound 70% of the time. Missed 3s totally ruin your mind and your defensive focus, and then you lose. Which also highlights how good the Warriors are (16 threes made on the road last night).

Those finals were ugly. Team basketball should have won the East: Boston definitely had the best basketball there. But then they shit the bed catastrophically and of course, LeBron. In the West, it made sense: ugly iso from Houston couldn’t win and I’m glad because it’s the ugliest basketball. Jesus, those dribbles.

This is also a reminder that stats don’t matter: the Rockets have had an amazing season. Harden and most of his teammates have great playoff numbers. It doesn’t matter now. It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got no ring.

From my last reel.

On that last picture I’m fist bumping my neighbor who was saying hi.

So Bill Cosby is going down.

R Kelly is going down. A bunch of rappers too.

Morgan Freeman as well.

It’s okay. What’s frustrating is the sanity-destroying usual double standard: black men go down while white men with the same crimes just stay president or whatever. It’s the same thing with the thousands of black folks in jail for weed while the business is booming outside black neighborhoods. It’s the same with cops killing innocent black folks but arresting white killers like “hey, it looks like you did something wrong here at that school, ‘mind following us?”.

Time to nod, shake head and grind teeth. Stay strong. Everything is as usual.